MMA

Georges St. Pierre.

The accolades keep piling up for Montreal’s Georges St. Pierre.

The UFC welterweight champion on Wednesday was named the World MMA Awards Fighter of the Year for 2009.

The announcement of the honour, which was determined by a voting process from fans across the world, was made at a ceremony at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The top fighter category was one of many as part of the awards program launched by Fighters Only in 2008, the first of its kind for the mixed martial arts industry.

Other awards included female fighter of the year, which went to Cristiane (Cyborg) Santos, top ring girl (the UFC’s Arianny Celeste) and “Leading man of the year” UFC president Dana White, who beat out two other UFC executives as well as Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and the late Charles (Mask) Lewis, co-founder of TapouT apparel.

St. Pierre, who earlier this month was voted Sportsnet’s Canadian Athlete of the Year and was runner-up for CP’s top male athlete honour, went 2-0 in 2009, defending his title in dominant wins over B.J. Penn in January and Thiago Alves at UFC 100 in July.

But the big winners on the night were Greg Jackson, TapouT and MMAjunkie.com. Jackson was named coach of the year and his Albuquerque, N.M.-based Submission Fighting facility was given the nod in the top gym category, while TapouT was awarded both “best overall MMA clothing manufacturer” and “best MMA brand.”

Meanwhile Lewis, who died in a high-speed car crash in March, was honoured in a special lifetime achievement award category.

Fans voted MMAjunkie.com the best media source, and its lead staff reporter John Morgan (who also covers MMA for the Dallas Morning News) earned the award for best MMA journalist.

Sportsnet’s (Showdown) Joe Ferraro and MMA Connected, hosted by Ferraro, were finalists in above two awards.